How to clean up full /boot safely?

[Liam Proven]

On 12 February 2018 at 17:22, Ralf Mardorf <silver.bullet at zoho.com> wrote:
> Liam, you aren't a novice, we all are aware that you are a power user,
> but actually you are just melodramatic. Much likely "we" get your
> point, at least I got your point. You know better ;).

It seemed (and seems) to me to be a simple point that people are
refusing to confront and trying to deflect by claiming that the
discussion is about something else.

To pick an example I have seen in a few places recently... people
running some FOSS OS on a laptop and saying that the solution for wifi
problems is [a] replace the internal wifi card or [b] use a USB wifi
adaptor.

This is _not_ the "solution" for wifi "problems". What this _really_
means is "this computer's wifi does not work with Linux. If you intend
to run Linux, get a different computer."

Once, decades ago, I would do days or weeks of work to get some
obscure kit that I already had working. I did not mind the time. I had
plenty.

Now, I mind. I don't have much. I want it to work when I plug it in.
If it does not, that means _it does not work_ and I will go buy
something else. A "solution" that involves any significant additional
work is not a real solution.

E.g. I had a problem that my Mac mini would not mount external USB
drives. I spent some time Googling and researching. Nothing
definitive.

I accidentally found the answer.

Use a powered hub. The Mac mini's internal PSU is underpowered. It
can't drive USB devices that require more than a minimal amount of
current. Plug it into a hub, it just works. That is the answer. Done.
Over. Easy.

No amount of fscking or installing drivers will help. It's an
electrical power problem.

But a €5 hub and it's solved, and now, the ports are easier to get at, too.

Sometimes there are complex difficult answers, and sometimes, there
are simple clear ones. And sometimes, there are answers that are
_both_ and having a rule for what you want makes life easier.

I attempted to explain my rule. Several people said "no it's not about that".

Yes, it is.

It's similar to my attitude to playing games. If a game takes longer
to learn than to play for the first time, I am not interested. I
*hate* learning new games. So if the explanation takes more than a few
seconds, forget it, it is too hard.

If explaining how to boot off a particular type of device _with all
the warning and advisory notes included_ takes more than a few
seconds, _it doesn't work_ so do something else.

If someone enjoys playing, as I used to, fine. Go for it. Enjoy. But
do not say "it just works" because it does not.

It's a big, important difference. Very few companies in IT understand that.

Canonical does. Apple does. Red Hat doesn't. Most Linux companies don't.

As a consultant, it took me a long time (many years, nearly a decade) to learn.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
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